twin mountain chains, South Island, New Zealand, paralleling the island's northeastern coast for 60 miles (100 km). The name, meaning “to eat crayfish,” has its origin in Maori myth. The Inland Kaikouras rise to 9,465 feet (2,885 m) at Tapuaenuku, and the Seaward Kaikouras reach 8,562 feet (2,609 m) at Manakau. The ranges are steepest along their southeast flanks, where there are active faults. The Clarence River flows between the ranges, and the Awatere River runs west of the Inland range. Lumbering has reduced the slopes' forest cover to scrub.

At the eastern foot of the mountains is the small Kaikoura Peninsula, called “Lookers On” by Captain James Cook in 1770. In his journal Cook described how 57 men in four double canoes came out toward his ship, “looked on” for a time, and then returned to shore. On the peninsula is the community of Kaikoura, founded in 1850. It is a farming, dairying, and sheep-raising centre with a limeworks, a crayfish-processing plant, and a marine biological research station.